Former Dune fm presenter John Cooper has hung up the headphones to launch a brand new holiday and short break website, BookMe2.co.uk

John had the early morning shift at the Southport-based radio station – and later KCR in Liverpool – for almost eight years.

But he admitted: “Getting up at 4.30am was starting to take its toll and after some hard thinking over Christmas, I decided I needed a new challenge.”

Travel is not completely new territory to John, who was an overseas manager for the Thomas Cook-owned Sunset Holidays before moving on to the airwaves. He also held positions at Intasun and Airtours.

He continued: “The great thing about setting up BookMe2.co.uk is it combines the best of everything that is available.

“We search all the low-cost and full service airline websites to find the best deal for customers, then we search all the major overseas accommodation suppliers for the best deals on hotels, apartments and villas.

“That means customers can go to just one easy to use website and literally build their own holiday, including flights, transfers and hotels, at a fraction of the high street price.

“The response has been fantastic.

“We decided on a soft launch, to make sure we had everything working properly.

“Already we have saved people thousands of pounds on their holidays, from short breaks in Ireland and France to all-inclusive holidays to Spain.”

But John did build up a substantial fanbase during his years as a presenter. Does this mean we’ll never see him behind the microphone again?

He replied: “I would never say never, but if I do it will probably be an odd weekend show, rather than full time.